Deep Throat Does It For Jacob Bernstein

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While everyone has their panties in a bunch over the revelation that Watergate informant "Deep Throat" is actually former FBI top brass W. Mark Felt, one has to wonder: How does WWD Scoop-boy Jacob Bernstein feel about all this?

Since we doubt many of you remember life before 2003 (Lord knows we don't), let's rewind for a moment. In 1999, a high-schooler named Chase Culeman-Beckman wrote a paper for his history class, the title of which was (roughly) Deep Throat is Mark Felt. The paper, naturally, had people wetting themselves on every corner — at which point, Culeman-Beckman revealed a very important childhood friend from his time at a Bridgehampton summer camp:

I was in the "Herons" group along with about fifteen other 8, 9, and 10 year olds ... One Friday in July we went on a trip to Long Beach, Sag Harbor, and Jacob [Bernstein], Max and I ended up sitting in the sand precociously talking about politics. It was an election year and I was in favor of George Bush because he had gone to the Greenwich Country Day School where I was attending, while Jacob and Max were for Michael Dukakis, although I do not remember why. At some point, the conversation turned to Nixon and Watergate ... which I knew little, if nothing, about. During the conversation Jacob told me: "Deep Throat was Mark Felt, he's someone in the FBI. I'm 100% sure."

That's Jacob Bernstein, as in the son of Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein, one of only three people who actually knew Deep Throat's identity (until today). It might be, then, fair to say that Vanity Fair was sorta scooped by an 8-year-old kid at daycamp. And even if it's not fair, we're still saying it — out of respect for the Bridgehampton Herons, if nothing else.

Deep Throat: The Game Is Afoot [Slate]Deep Throat Disclosure Hard To Swallow [Slate]